State Highlights

For a state that has always leaned Republican, South Dakota looked downright centrist this year, easily returning Democrats to the Senate and House, and giving John McCain less than half the winning margins George W. Bush had in 2000 and 2004.

Senator Tim Johnson, a Democrat, barely won his seat in 2002, and four years later he suffered a stroke that took him out of action for months. He remains partly disabled, but he and his staff have labored hard to send the message to his constituents and the media that he is still mentally sharp and actively engaged in his job.

In a state where Democrats are almost always considered vulnerable, he won re-election by 25 percentage points. The state's only House member, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, also a Democrat, won by an even wider margin.

For the second time in two years, South Dakotans rejected an initiative that would have banned nearly all abortions, in the state's most closely watched race. RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA